VALIC was the retirement services division of American General. The company has now been bought by American International Group (AIG).

With no financial industry experience, but with 20 years of publications' experience and bootstrap credentials, Sandy was hired to write and manage seven quarterly financial publications with millions of readers and a budget to match. She managed one writer and interfaced with writing, graphic design and printing vendors. All publications were four color print projects.

During her time at AG, she revamped the publications, created more investor-friendly formats and migrated several print publications to websites to provide more current personal financial data.

Sandy single-handedly cut the publications budget by $50,000 in one year while increasing circulation and reader acceptance and response. She developed and managed consumer feedback programs to guide the redesign of the visuals and content.

AGRS VISION did not exist when Sandy was hired, but based on executive discussions about their goals for an employee targeted publication, she put together a compelling concept, designed and art directed the cover and layout, wrote most of the articles, and managed the production, including press checks. Sample pages and Sandy's sample articles below ...

When Sandy began managing Investment Digest, it was black and white, no
articles, minimal information and uninteresting visuals presenting the
financial data. It was badly in need of a change. A survey of clients revealed they were not reading the magazine.

Client participation was increased by featuring cover artwork
submitted by artists who were also clients/investors. This was Sandy's idea.

Feedback after the redesign was that clients had never seen
Investment Digest before, or if they had, they hadn't read it. It was a
big hit. Later, Sandy migrated the publication to the internet to
provide current data specific to each client.

Sandy has been writing ever since she learned the alphabet.
In high school she won three levels of a statewide essay contest on
power generation, winning stock in the Illinois Power Company.

Her writing career began in Houston writing ad copy for Dresser Industries as a secretary
in the advertising department.

In 1979, she published her own
metaphysical monthly journal, The Rising Sun, the first of its kind in
Houston, TX, thereby earning her first bootstrap credential that
translated into the corporate world. It was the predecessor of The Indigo Sun.

She was the hired by Distribution International, an industrial insulation
marketing company, as their Publications Manager where she established their marketing communications department from the ground up. She created and wrote an award winning industry trade magazine,
strengthening her corporate credentials.

Then came her monthly magazine providing local events and resources for
kids and parents, Family & Friends, interviewing local and national
celebrities.

After a few years of travel and freelance writing, she was hired as publicatons manager for VALIC, American General's
retirement division (see samples on the left). She also wrote the Sanctuary column for the Indigo Sun
magazine for three years.

2011-Present: Sandy Penny writes the Traveler's Dream column for The New Era Times. Click the logo to read her spiritual journey articles.

After moving to Taos, NM, she began writing for both local newspapers
(see below). All along the way, synchronicity, vision and intuition
guided her to new ventures.

TAOS NEWS

Sandy Penny was managing an art gallery in Taos, and felt she was done and
needed to make a change. The next day the owner came in and told her he
was closing the gallery. She needed some work, but decided to take a
little time off. A few days later, she got a phone call from the copy
editor at the Taos News. Virginia said, "I had a note on my computer
that you called and you are a freelance writer looking for work." Sandy
replied, "Yes, I am." The editor told her to bring samples by and talk
to her. Sandy had not called and left that message, but somehow a note
with her phone number had ended up on the editor's computer. Mysterious
synchronicity. After reviewing Sandy's samples, Virginia gave Sandy a
dozen articles to write. Pdfs of those articles are below.

When Sandy first arrived in Taos in 2006, she contacted the Horse Fly
News as a writer and proposed a healing arts section called the
ButterFly. The owner, Bill Whaley, was hesitant at the time, but showed
some interest. In 2008 when she had just stopped writing for the Taos
News, she was in the DragonFly Restaurant when Bill walked in. Sandy
perceived all the converging fly energy as auspicious, so she repeated
her offer to create a section, sell the advertising, and write the
content. He agreed, and the articles below resulted. She eventually began working in the office, editing articles by other authors, proofing the final layout, and helping with the layout when needed.